Mitigate corrosion in sweet gas amine units

J. Kittel, IFP Energies nouvelles, Solaize, France; M. Bonis, Total, Pau, France; and G. Perdu, Prosernat, Paris La Défense, France An extensive review of acid gas removal units covering five decades and more than 120 amine units showed that units treating sweet gases (i.e., those with CO2 only) presented the worst risks of corrosion. In some extreme cases in diethanolamine (DEA) units, a fairly uniform corrosion in an active mode was observed on stainless steel (SS) grades, such as AISI 410 and 304L, associated with strong scaling of the heat exchangers by corrosion products. A detailed analysis of these corrosion phenomena, complemented by laboratory investigations, enabled an understand